Rick's garage transformed into the most dysfunctional yet brilliant command center for two galaxies. In one corner, Summer and Morty, under Kaelen's direction, were at their laptops, designing the "Cosmic Crystal Challenge."
"No, no, Morty, the meme has to be stupider!" Summer said, editing a video of a cat playing a piano with the text "My Rick could find the Cosmic Crystal." "Ricks are narcissists, but their ego is fragile. They have to feel like it's something so dumb only the smartest Rick would realize it's real."
In another corner, Jerry sadly handed pieces of his toaster to Kaelen, while Rick passed him tools that seemed to violate several laws of physics.
"Are you sure you need the browning regulator?" Jerry asked one last time.
"Jerry, your browning regulator is about to become the frequency modulator that will prevent the message from turning into a politician from Alderaan's private thoughts about their love affair," Kaelen explained patiently as he soldered the piece to a car battery. "Trust me, it's important."
Padmé and Beth watched from a safe distance, sitting at the kitchen table with a bottle of wine between them.
"So, let me get this straight," Beth said, pouring two glasses. "Your husband, who is some kind of ghost uncle of mine, is building a time phone out of our appliances to warn an army of space monks about a conspiracy orchestrated by their boss, the Evil Emperor."
"Darth Sidious," Padmé corrected. "But yes, that's the gist of it."
"And meanwhile," Beth continued, "my kids are creating a hoax on the interdimensional internet to distract a government of infinite versions of my father from coming to assassinate your husband."
"Correct," Padmé affirmed, taking a sip of wine. It felt surprisingly good.
"Okay," Beth said, raising her glass. "Just wanted to make sure. To insanity. May it never cease to surprise us."
They clinked glasses.
A Promise for Tomorrow
Later that night, the main work was done. The tachyon transmitter was complete. Summer's viral meme was ready to be launched. Chaos was prepared.
Kaelen found Padmé in the Smiths' small backyard, gazing up at the unfamiliar stars of an Earth sky. He walked up and wrapped his arms around her, the cold metal of his left arm contrasting with the warmth of her body.
"The transmitter's ready," he said softly. "Tomorrow morning, we give Yoda the biggest headache of his 900-year life."
"And the Rick distraction..." she continued. "Summer showed me. It's brilliantly stupid. It'll work."
"It works because it's based on arrogance. A Rick's biggest weakness," he said. "Well, that and alcohol. And family bonds. And bird-person. It's a long list, really."
Padmé chuckled softly and leaned into him. They stood in silence for a moment, a rare instant of peace amidst the madness.
"When all this is over, Kaelen..." she whispered. "The promise you made. On Tatooine. Do you still..."
He interrupted her, gently turning her to face him. His cybernetic eye hummed softly as he looked at her, but his other eye, his human eye, was filled with unmistakable warmth and love.
"Padmé," he said, his voice a blend of seriousness and his old mischievous spark. "Building reality-breaking weapons, dismantling empires with disinformation, fighting infinite versions of my genetic father... all of that is complicated. It requires planning. Precision."
He leaned in and kissed her softly.
"But the other part," he continued, his voice dropping to an intimate, flirtatious whisper right in her ear. "The part about building a future. The part about having a family..."
He paused, his smile widening.
"...that just requires practice. And I'm looking forward to getting a lot of practice in with you as soon as we get a free moment. We might need... many practice sessions to get it right."
Padmé laughed, a genuine sound of happiness that seemed to dispel all the tension in the universe. She gently punched his chest.
"You're incorrigible," she said, but her eyes shone.
"And you love me for it," he retorted.
"Yes," she admitted, her smile matching his. "Yes, I do."
In that backyard, on a strange planet in a universe that wasn't their own, surrounded by a dysfunctional family and on the brink of two different wars, they found their center. Their promise. No matter how crazy things got, no matter how many cybernetic enhancements or cosmic threats stood in their way. They would still be Kaelen and Padmé. And that, they realized, was the greatest superpower of all.